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— Gentlemen's Night 




Recited by the Author 

at a Meeting of the 

cTVlary Baker AUen Chapter 

D. A. R. 

December 8, 1909 



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GENTLEMEN'S N I G " " 



OR many a day there's been mystery brewing, 
Making and baking and spicing and stewing ; 
Grave consultations, whispered and long. 
Loud lamentations over something gone wrong ; 

Hurry and flurry, 

Hustle and worry, 
Rustle and bustle all over this town. 
Until, each lady donning her holiday gown. 
We all have assembled from near and afar 
For 'tis Gentlemen's Night at the D. A. R. 
Now please do not think me at all egotistical 
If I speak for awhile of those letters so mystical 

And try to explain 

In words that are plain, 

And are in the main. 

Quite simple and sane ; 

Just what they stand for, 

And what we have planned for. 
D is for Daughters and we're quite a crowd, 
At whose club as a rule no SONS are allowed. 
But where for this night all are duly invited, 
And for whose prompt acceptance we're truly delighted. 
A for American, traced as far back. 
As we our ancestral record can track ; 

And fortunate we. 

If in searching we see. 

There may possibly be, 

No ancestor hanged on our family tree. 
R for the war, where our great-gran dsires fell 
Fighting for freedom as histories tell ; 
Or, lived to relate to their grand-children stories, 



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^ Of hair-breadth escapes from Indians or Tories, 
Or laugh long and hearty 

^»; Over Boston's Tea Party. 

^ And thus you may see how we all are descended, 

^ From patriots brave who their country defended. 

.<:^^And while to the battle-field we may not go, 
I We can quite as aggressively fight every foe, 
^ And prove we inherit 

Somewhat of the spirit 
That governed our grand-sires in days long ago. 
And yet Fll confess. 
We may not posess, 

The same sort of courage that men do, unless 
We see greatest need of prompt action— And then— 
We can't kill a rat or a mouse or a hen. 
Without a faint feeling— a trembling of hands. 
Which I'm sure every woman that's here understands. 
But in the great crises and trials of your lives, 
Who so quick with their wit and their aid as your wives. 
And mothers, and sisters ? And though you may doubt us. 
You know very well you could not live without us. 
And what is our object, you ask ; what our work ; 
For you know us too well to believe we would shirk, 
And while like the Masons our secrets are great, 
And I must not gossip of matters of state. 
Yet I think I may mention that a part of our plan 
Is to change the whole universe so, if we can. 
That Peary and Cook may both of them look. 
And SEE, the North Pole which each claims he took, 
Or so any explorer to that frozen point 
May not return home with his nose out of joint. 
Then we'll try to arrange with some prominent stars 
To select for the air-ships a short route to Mars. 



To find if the climate be cold there or hot, 

And whether canals run all round it or not : 

If people live there, and if so what they wear, 

And if D. A. R. Chapters flourish up there. 

And then there's that menace to comfort and ease, 

The dreaded insidious Hook-worm disease. 

One symptom we're told, is a disinclination 

To work, under even most dire provocation. 

And many a person whose had it for years 

Still lives to relate all his doubts and his fears, 

In ignorance that in his system is lurking 

A parasite cruel which keeps him from working. 

But doctors and scientists think that for sure. 

With John D.'s assistance, they'll soon find a cure. 

So we'll simply investigate serious cases 

That come to our knowledge, in various places. 

And finding them hopeless 'neath our ministration, 

A helpless incumberance to civilization, 

We'll note down their symptoms and pass them right on 

To the very learned doctors and wealthy Sir John. 

Thus you plainly can see 

How busy. Ah Me— 
In the strenuous days of the future we'll be. 
Please wish us success in our great undertaking 
And if, while our pathway to Mars we are making. 
You would like to go with us, we'll charter more cars 
And invite you to take a short flight 'mong the stars. 
And a year from this time may you hail with delight 
Your next invitation to— Gentlemen's Night. 

Katharine Griswold. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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